Brentford boss Thomas Frank is counting down the days until the end of the January window in the hope he can keep his star men at Griffin Park.

A host of Brentford players have been linked with moves away recently, with Neal Maupay, Romaine Sawyers and Ollie Wakins all reportedly subject to admiring glances from elsewhere.

Boro are one of the clubs who've been linked with both Maupay and Sawyers.

Despite those links, Sawyers isn't one of the players on Tony Pulis's radar this month, and while the manager rates 16-goal striker Maupay highly, the Bees reportedly value him at more than £20m.

Aston Villa have also been linked with the Frenchman, though they would only firm up their reported interest if they lost Tammy Abraham this month - which now looks unlikely. Sources close to Wolves today say the Premier League club have given up on landing the striker.

Thomas Frank, Brentford's head coach

The Bees also face a bit of a scrap to hold on to Chris Mepham and Ollie Watkins, with Southampton reportedly keen.

All things considered, then, it's no surprise that Frank will be pleased and relieved when the window is done with.

"I’m massively hoping we can keep the team together, it would be nice if it was the 31st of January tomorrow,” he said after Saturday's win over Stoke, extending Brentford's unbeaten run to six games in all competitions.

“We have a good squad. Now we have made all our small adjustments, you can see in our performances that we are going up.

“I want to keep all our players if possible but anything can happen in football and we are prepared."